Is That Facebook Friend a Scammer or Someone You Actually Know?

Received a friend request on Facebook? Make sure it's really your friend before accepting.
Fake profiles abound on Facebook. Cyber-scammers grab photos from other profiles and create fake identities, and then spam people with friend requests. Ars Technica reports on a new twist, where scammers create a fake profile with the name of a real friend and send a request. So even if users are careful about accepting requests from strangers, they may not think twice about accepting these friend requests because the name is familiar. Depending on how many other people the scammer had already duped, the user may even see a lot of mutual friends.
According to Ars Technica, attackers cloned accounts for several reporters and producers at a Baltimore television station and targeted friends, co-workers, and viewers with fake friend requests. "The attack gave the scammer access to a huge audience's Facebook news feeds," Ars reported.
Value of Being a Friend
Facebook makes a lot of personal information about the user available through "friend" and "like" connections. This makes becoming a Facebook friend even more attractive for scammers looking for personal data to mount social engineering attacks. Once that fake profile is added as a friend, the scammer behind it has access to everything you post and your personal information. It doesn't matter if you restrict your privacy settings so that outsiders can't see your information if the scammer is already inside your "friends" list.
Study after study has shown Facebook users accept friend requests from people they don't know. Men are more likely to accept friend requests from accounts with a profile photo of an attractive woman, for example. It's clear that regardless of who the request is from, users should vet every request.
If you need to have a work-related account, you should keep it separate from your personal account. Make sure only people you actually know have access to the personal persona, and that no personal information is available on your work-related profile.
Vet Those Requests
When you get a request from someone you know, it may be worth taking the time to check your list to see if you already had that person on your list, and if you did, find out if they'd created a new account or not. It's a little tricky to ask a person to verify their identity without giving out potentially sensitive information.
If your friend starts posting spam links, assume the person has been hacked or it's a fake profile. Notify Facebook immediately using the Report/Block setting under the gears icon on the top right corner of the screen. It's difficult for Facebook to figure out which accounts are fake and which are real, so it relies heavily on user reports to weed them out.
It's definitely a tricky line to walk, figuring out who to trust online. So even if you are a hundred percent sure you know who has access to your profile, keep certain types of personal information off social networks, such as information that can be used as your password hint or security questions (your mother's maiden name, for example). Who you share data with may not be entirely under your control, but what you share is still up to you.